[Evaluation of conventional and new generation tests for testing the humeral response to Mycoplasma pneumoniae antigens in natural infection in humans. III Use of ELISA, complement fixation and immunoelectroprecipitation tests in diagnosis of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections--comparative analysis]

Abstract

Agreement of the results of determining antibodies against M. pneumoniae was evaluated by the ELISA, complement fixation test (CFT) and immunoelectroprecipitation test (IEPT) in serum samples from 685 persons including 571 patients with respiratory tract infections and 114 clinically healthy subjects. Assuming the CF to be the reference test, a very high correlation exceeding 0.95 was found, on the basis of the calculated correlation coefficient, between the results of the CF and IEP tests and the CFT and ELISA in all immunoglobulin classes. The highest sensitivity (92.3%) was displayed by the ELISA in relation to the CF test when determining mycoplasmas antibodies of IgM and IgA + G + M classes and slightly lower sensitivity by the IEPT and ELISA when determining of IgG (83% and 82.1% respectively). The lowest sensitivity was displayed by the ELISA when determining mycoplasmal antibodies of IgA class (53.4%). Specificity of both the tests was high and exceeded 92%. Highest agreement of CFT and ELISA was obtained when detecting mycoplasmal antibodies in diagnostically significant titer in the M and A + G + M immunoglobulin classes (> 92%) while lowest agreement, although statistically significant, was obtained when detecting IgA antibodies (74.7%).